Midland Commons
 | |
| Location | Warwick, Rhode Island, USA |
|---|---|
| Opening date | October 1967 |
| Closing date | May 22, 2011 |
| Developer | Homart Development Company |
| Owner | Eastern Development, of Woburn, Mass |
| No. of stores and services | 4 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 (0 with mall entrance) |
| Total retail floor area | 579,499 square feet (53,837.2 m2) (GLA)[1] |
| No. of floors | 2 |
Rhode Island Mall is a two-story, enclosed shopping mall located in the city of Warwick, Rhode Island, USA. It opened in October 1967 as the Midland Mall, as the first two-level mall in New England.[2] In 1972, Warwick Mall was opened approximately a mile North of the Midland Mall. Although the two malls co-existed for several years, Rhode Island Mall began to lose stores once G. Fox, one of its anchor stores, closed in 1994.
History
The land on which the mall sites was pasture land when Homart Development Company (the mall building subsidiary of Sears) purchased it in 1963. To accommodate the mall, a hill was leveled and the course of the Pawtuxet River was altered.[3]
The Rhode Island Mall opened in October 1967 as the Midland Mall. With 60 shops, it was the first two-level fully enclosed mall in New England.[3] Homart sold the mall to MetLife in 1981 for $20 million.[3]
It was officially renamed the "Rhode Island Mall" in March 1985.[4][5]
In 1988, May Department Stores acquired Boston-based department store chain Filene's. May merged its previously owned G. Fox division into Filene's in 1993, and converted all of its stores, including the Rhode Island Mall location, to the Filene's name. Filene's closed their Rhode Island Mall location four years later, in favor of the existing store at Warwick Mall. After the closure of Filene's, nearly one-third of the mall (including both the former Filene's and the food court) was demolished for a two-level anchor, featuring Kohl's on one level and Wal-Mart on the other; neither store opens into the mall concourse.
Many of the mall's vacant spaces have been leased by Royal Ahold, owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket franchise; this lease has led to local speculation that Royal Ahold is attempting to keep the Wal-Mart from being converted to a Supercenter store with a full grocery section.
Present day
Rhode Island Mall is a dead mall, and has been listed on Deadmalls.com.[2] Its anchors include Kohl's, Wal-Mart, and Sears. (Sears was the final anchor store that actually opened into the mall, but began leaving their gates down permanently in 2011, finally closing access off via a partition wall in March, 2011.) There are also only four stores (LensCrafters, GNC, First Place Sports and a year round H&R Block) still open inside this once popular location.
The other remaining opened stores inside the mall are located on the second floor's exit hallway.
Rhode Island Mall also has five detached buildings in the parking lot occupied by Toys "R" Us, Wendy's, Chuck E Cheese's, On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina and Sears, which operates an automotive tire sales and service center in the fifth building.
The interior of The Rhode Island Mall still appears to be viable. Despite the lack of storefronts in the mall, the fountain in the center of the mall, as well as the elevator and escalators, continue to operate on a daily basis. The mall also continues to staff a maintenance and custodian crew as well as a 24-hour security detail provided by IPC International Security.
As of May 22, 2011, Management will be closeing access to the mall [6]
Anchors
Sears (Opened in 1967)
Walmart (Opened in 2000)
Kohl's (Opened in 2000)
References
- ^ "Rhode Island Mall". International Council of Shopping Centers. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ^ a b Moore, Russell J. (2007-06-05). "Rhody's first mall listed on deadmalls.com". WarwickOnline.com. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
- ^ a b c "Sale Closing Nears for Rhode Island Mall". The Providence Journal. December 4, 1997. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Midland Mall gets new look and name". The Providence Journal. November 11, 1984. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Gwynne Morgan (March 17, 1985). "Advertising, marketing Midland Mall changes its name and tries to change its image". The Providence Journal. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ http://www2.turnto10.com/business/2011/mar/23/6/interior-rhode-island-mall-close-may-ar-431841/